New daily time! 2007 MINI Cooper S

[GazHyde]

New daily & backup track hack acquired. 2007 Cooper S, 1.6 turbo, 75k miles. It's my second Cooper as I had a 57 plate 1.6 diesel which was awesome.

N14 engine just had top end rebuilt after timing chain doing the thing that N14 engines do - if you know, you know! Nicely loaded with bits, first job to remove those god awful vinyl decals from the sun strip. She drives well, needs a few mods/jobs to bring up to what I'm looking for it to do - already declared those on the insurance in preparation.

Not sure I can rock that number plate

 

[Ianmc]

Looks like a real nice car/colour combination.

 

[andyglym]

Nice mate, great colour combo

 

[Brian4]

Looks really good nick Gaz enjoy.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Not sure I can rock that number plate

It should have been looked after properly.

 

[Mint]

Sweet, that looks very clean and tidy Gaz. I'm not sure it will ever be that clean again .

 

[Dino D]

Daily/back up track hack
Taking man maths to next level, love it!

this should be fun on track but worthy noting the only car I’ve seen flip on a normal track day was one of these and with the instructor on board as well!
apparently lift off oversteer is a thing, spicy!

 

[GazHyde]

Gotta love a second hand car, spent an hour this afternoon getting rid of an airlock from cooling system

@Dino D its when I buy a backup backup I’ll start worrying

 

[Lee]

Gotta love a second hand car, spent an hour this afternoon getting rid of an airlock from cooling system

@Dino D its when I buy a backup backup I’ll start worrying

Technically this is the backupbackup the backup car has died already.

@Dino D this will be joining us on track in a few weeks

 

[GazHyde]

Got her up on the ramp today for a look and see if I've bought a money pit, and honestly there's a bit of flavour under there but on the whole pretty happy.

New discs/pads needed for the rear and pads for the front. Dust shields are rotten on the front. Nothing loose, knocking or broken otherwise - possibly a knock from a top mount when driving.

 

[Paul Rice]

Great track car, Cadwell was built for it.

 

[GazHyde]

I’ve lived in a sheltered world. Just ordered Brembo rear discs and front/rear Yellowstuff pads for £15 more than I paid for just the rear discs on the M

MINI parts are soooooo cheap in comparison!

 

[Lee]

We're lacking shinny black bits and coilovers

 

[GazHyde]

We're lacking shinny black bits and coilovers

I’ve been on eBay for the last 2 hours. Wezmoto braided lines on the way! Got distracted by this…

View: https://youtu.be/ohFv9D2uWlw

 

[Althulas]

Have a check on those coolant hoses as well Gaz. Doing a oil change and moving the expansion tank out of the way resulted in one of those combo hoses with the plastic fittings letting go so all changed while I was there and the thermostat housing as I noted a small crack at least I found the cause of a very slow leak. I also had an oil leak which required the front end being put in to service mode to change the turbo oil feed line but while I was there I changed the return line and the oil filter and cooler gaskets as all weeping.it I thought I was all done now the oil pump solenoid is sticking

Enjoy so Gaz as you know they are a hoot to drive. I do miss the addictive whine of the supercharge one though.

 

[GazHyde]

@Althulas - thanks for the info. It does need a really good look over in the engine bay, I'm waiting on the guy I bought it from to send met the info over on the head work it had done.

I just spent some time looking at VIN decoders and found it has a factory LSD fitted which was an option when ordering! This has just saved me a small fortune. It's not on the original alloys but like these better anyway. Interior is cloth/leather "Ray"/rooster-red.

Otherwise the VIN decoders have the spec perfectly to what I can see on the car.

One of the sites gives an image of what it would have looked like when ordered.

 

[Dino D]

Didn’t know they fitted LSD to these - it’s like a little wrong wheel drive Mcar. Tempting.
You need ‘Mini Power’ tag for the forum now!

 

[Dino D]

Ps how have you been getting on with Yellowstuff pads?

I’ve found the recent ones very grumbly after a few k miles - as if they work out. then saw on the website they have changed the material for yellow in the last couple years and say not for track use anymore.
This was on EBC grooved discs - it might be their discs as this is the second time I’ve used their discs and had vibrations or rumbling. On stock discs they’ve always been fine but wondering if the compound change has negatively impacted them.

 

[GazHyde]

Ps how have you been getting on with Yellowstuff pads?

I've only used YS pads for the last 8 years or so and been fine for how I drive. But my cars tend to end up being daily drivers mainly so don't want to go too deep in to track pads. Just had a look on the EBC site and seen this and I don't think it changes the decision for me personally.

"drivers wanting fast pad bed-in for short duration track use, should consider our Blue grade pads or even our RP pads".

 

[GazHyde]

Buy a MINI they said, it’ll be the start of a MINI adventure. Just as well I like a project

View: https://youtu.be/Q3Kvu6Kgp88